2025 Alaska Landslide Triggers Second-Highest Recorded Tsunami in Tracy Arm Fjord
In 2025, a massive landslide caused by the retreating South Sawyer Glacier in Alaska's Tracy Arm fjord triggered a megatsunami, recorded as the second highest in history. The wave reached a maximum height of 481 meters (1,578 feet) as it swept down the confined waterway into the ocean. A team of scientists led by Dan Shugar from the University of Calgary reconstructed the event using satellite imagery, aerial photos, and ground-based data, publishing their findings in the journal Science. The tsunami stripped vegetation from slopes, creating a distinct 'bathtub ring' and leaving Sawyer Island nearly bare. The event also generated a seiche that lasted over 24 hours, producing seismic signals equivalent to a 5.4 magnitude earthquake. Researchers highlight that climate change-induced glacial retreat increases the likelihood of such landslide-tsunamis in fjords. This poses a growing risk to coastal environments and the cruise ships that frequently visit these regions. The study underscores the destructive power of localized slope failures in confined water bodies compared to traditional earthquake-generated tsunamis.
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Reports are grouped by semantic similarity and deterministic rules. Language models may assist titles, summaries, translation and cross-source analysis; the page itself is projected from evidence records.
- Current automated evidence projection
Wire timeline
2025 Alaska Landslide Triggers Second-Highest Recorded Tsunami in Tracy Arm Fjord
In 2025, a massive landslide caused by the retreating South Sawyer Glacier in Alaska's Tracy Arm fjord triggered a megatsunami, recorded as the second highest in history. The wave reached a maximum height of 481 meters (1,578 feet) as it swept down the confined waterway into the ocean. A team of scientists led by Dan Shugar from the University of Calgary reconstructed the event using satellite imagery, aerial photos, and ground-based data, publishing their findings in the journal Science. The tsunami stripped vegetation from slopes, creating a distinct 'bathtub ring' and leaving Sawyer Island nearly bare. The event also generated a seiche that lasted over 24 hours, producing seismic signals equivalent to a 5.4 magnitude earthquake. Researchers highlight that climate change-induced glacial retreat increases the likelihood of such landslide-tsunamis in fjords. This poses a growing risk to coastal environments and the cruise ships that frequently visit these regions. The study underscores the destructive power of localized slope failures in confined water bodies compared to traditional earthquake-generated tsunamis.